ememkay

I just finished this book and I have a few questions about it. Give me your thoughts

What relavance does it have to American Childhood?

Did it give you a new perspective on childhood? How or how not?

How are children depicted in this book?

What is the main point of this book?

Crossbow

You're trying to get us to do your English homework for you, aren't you???

ememkay

Maybe

No- I shouldn't have posted here but it is hard for me to disect a book that I didn't choose to read.

BehrItAll

Wow, I read this book a looong time ago. Wasn't the point to show how without society and rules people have to rely on instinct to survive and become like savages but also to survive people come up with some sort of system where one person is incharge to make the group survives. Or something like that.

Crossbow

What relavance does it have to American Childhood?

Did it give you a new perspective on childhood? How or how not?

How are children depicted in this book?

What is the main point of this book?

I think it's largely about debunking the myth of childhood innocence. It depicts them as a bunch of little savages. The group prioritizes their internal power struggle and their desire to hunt over getting rescued. I seem to recall they let their signal fire go out because they don't care about it as much as they care about other things, and they end up getting rescued only by accident. It completely jibes with my experiences in grade school.

Princess Bing

Nothing new.

I read this book quite a long time ago, too, actually, but it'd always stuck in my mind. I just kinda got sucked in and Okay, I'll take a crack at this, too, but I have to warn you I only read this for fun. Maybe you should try the cliffnotes or something from antistudy or encarta, too.


What relavance does it have to American Childhood?

Did it give you a new perspective on childhood? How or how not?

How are children depicted in this book?

What is the main point of this book?


Hmm... actually, I thought it wasn't at all that much about childhood. I thought the fact that they were children was only a way of showing how they were innocent and yet to be tainted by society, etc., etc. How they divvied up into the ones who wanted to be rescued and the ones who wanted to just stay and hunt's also kind of how people (adults) are different, too. I guess it kinda shows how civilization is defined (the fire, the huts, the fruit-gathering, and the leadership as well) as opposed to savage(ry?) shown by the hunting and their methods.

I think you should also focus a bit on the fire, 'cause this is the first thing they actually disagreed upon, if my memory serves me right. The group who wanted to be rescued wanted to keep the fire burning. On the other hand, the group that just wanted to hunt didn't care about the fire or being rescued at all.

Hope that helps.

xallyx

It deals with the whole idea of 'human nature' and that perhaps, if children who are considered the most 'innocent' in our society, can turn into savages in their need to stay alive, then maybe the acts of power, violence and greed are simply intuitive characteristics of humans in dire situations. It plays with the idea of whether people really are power-hungry, violent and greedy because of the society in which we live or whether it's just a part of being human...

...I hated this book...They made us study it only last year at school...

BehrItAll

That's what I was trying to say. Your wording was much better than mine.

BepperGirl

read this book in English this year myself. but i think questions have been answered.

Gaby

xallyx

... Thanks.

BehrItAll

Your Welcome.

I think the questions have been answered. Everyone pretty much summed it up well.

Carrie99

Glad you got the answers you were looking for.

I remember reading this book in Advanced English in 9th grade and a lot of other students were a bit freaked out.

In Fair Verona

I read this book this spring for school, I actually liked it. I thought it was pretty neat, but I'm done with all that disecting and schoolwork. I don't want to think about all the philosophy in it anymore.

CityGal

It may be a bit old, but it was funny.

fly me to the moon

I read this book and I find it odd..